The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Jinapor, has decried the impact of unresolved Ghana-Togo border issues on the relationship between the two countries.
A joint technical committee composed in 2017 to look into the border dispute has already met six times, with the recent meeting being held in March 2021.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the seventh round of joint negotiations in Accra on Wednesday, the Minister noted that the two countries are bonded through common ancestral and cultural practices, and have always co-existed peacefully.
“Indeed, most of our people are related by blood and bonded together by common ancestries and cultural practices. We have peacefully co-existed as neighbours, traded, farmed, fished, and married among ourselves. The instant border issue should not and cannot disturb the historic brotherly relations between Ghana and Togo”.
The Minister thus urged that the issues should not be allowed to disturb the historic brotherly relations between the two countries.
“Undoubtedly, while there remains significant work to be done, the Government of Ghana is pleased with the progress made so far in resolving this issue.”
“We are reassured by the renewed commitments, contained in the joint communiqué issued at the end of the last session held in Lomé, to conclude discussions on the provisional arrangements for the temporary management of the Transboundary Area,” Mr. Jinapor said.
Ghana and Togo have since 2017 been holding negotiations regarding their common maritime boundary.
Leaders of the two countries, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and President Faure Gnassingbe both representing Ghana and Togo respectively agreed on peaceful and concerted efforts to resolve the issue to foster bilateral relations.
The Technical Committee tasked with the mandate has thus far agreed on a roadmap for the negotiations.
“The people of our respective countries look up to us to offer bold leadership in ensuring peaceful co-existence.”
“In fidelity to our commitment, in both the UN Charter and the UNCLOS, we are poised to resolve these issues through negotiations and hope that the resolutions adopted at the end of this session, will give us a stronger foundation to mutually resolve this boundary issue,” the Minister stated.
